


All About Nathalie

by LuckOfADraw (Mirime)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Miraculous Femslash Week, One Shot Collection, Tumblr Prompt, nathalie-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-25 19:58:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9841631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirime/pseuds/LuckOfADraw
Summary: A collection of stories written for Miraculous Weeks'  Femslash Week on Tumblr. Various pairings but all centred around Nathalie.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 prompt: Selfie
> 
> It's an unusual pairing, I know, but personally, I find Nathalie extremely shippable.

Nathalie sometimes wondered if the fact that the majority of her relationships both began and ended because of her work said more about her or about the people she was attracted to.

At least she learned from her mistakes. Or so she hoped.

She wasn’t really cut out for the stereotypical romance and domesticity. She liked her job, demanding though it was, and her partner needed to understand that sometimes they would come in second to it.

That wasn’t to say she was adverse to the more typical trappings of romance, she just didn’t think they were the be-all, end-all of a relationship. Her last long-term relationship had sunk after one too many nights spent working on getting the new Gabriel collection out without a hitch and her desire to spend a quiet evening at home to relax instead of going out for dinner as her partner wanted.

Maybe that was the reason she and Nadja had hit it off so quickly. Nadja understood what it was like to work in a highly stressful environment and the challenge of balancing their working and personal lives.

Nathalie was still weary of getting attached too quickly, though. Her track record of relationships wasn’t very good and the fact that she and Nadja met through work didn’t help in that regard.

(Nathalie came very close to strangling Vincenze, no matter how good of a photographer he was, for presenting her with photographs taken of Adrien posing with an unknown, definitely-not-a-contracted-model child, with no waiver or permission from the child’s parent or guardian to allow the taking of the said photos and their subsequent publishing.

Luckily, Nadja Chamack was very understanding of the whole thing and the permission was obtained post-facto. Since Manon had enjoyed herself a lot, numbers had been exchanged in case another opportunity like that would come up.)

But sometimes, sometimes it was worth it to take a leap of faith.

“I still can’t see the appeal,” Nadja said, holding up her cell phone to get a better angle on the Palais Longchamps in the background. They were spending a weekend in Marseilles, doing some sightseeing and taking a ton of pictures for Manon (and possibly Adrien).

“Says a woman who will need another memory card if she keeps taking the photos of everything we see.”

“It’s the journalist in me,” Nadja said as if that explained everything and to Nathalie it did. Nathalie sighed and hooked her arm through Nadja’s, almost dragging her with her. “And I actually meant all of this. Going around, taking pictures, acting like tourists. It’s not me.”

“It’s only for a couple of hours to visit all of the spots quickly. After that, we can get holed up in our room for the rest of our stay,” Nathalie pointed out. As it turned out, Manon had been more excited for their trip than the two of them put together and they had to promise her they would take a lot of pictures of everything. So Nathalie came up with a compromise - a quick visit to all notable places to get pictures before enjoying the much desired time alone.

“Have I told you recently how much I appreciate your obsession with scheduling everything?”

Nathalie let out a little laugh at that. Nadja was certainly in the minority when it came to that.

“Should we take a selfie, too?” she asked.

“Why not?”

They arranged themselves in front of a lion statue, smiling for the camera. Nadja’s perfume, slowly becoming as familiar as her own, wafted up to Nathalie’s nose and her smile became even bigger.

Balancing the work and a relationship was quite easy with the right partner. Maybe Nathalie finally found the one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 prompt: Unexpected Rendezvous

By the fourth evening Nathalie spent in the hotel bar, her reputation had spread enough that she wasn't bothered by anyone. There had been some men who had tried to approach her on the first two evenings, thinking that a woman sitting alone in a bar was in want of male company. They had been quickly and ruthlessly set straight.

Nathalie wasn't spending her evenings in the bar because she was lonely. She did it merely for the change of scenery from her room. Gabriel was allegedly working on designs for the fall collection and was not to be disturbed. In truth, he had left three days prior without telling her where he had been going, just assuring her he would come back from wherever he had left to in a week. Nathalie's job in the meantime was to make it look like he was still present.

His wife's disappearance and the complete lack of information about her had hit Nathalie's employer hard and that was nothing to say about the effect it had on their son. Still, it had been a couple of months and Adrien seemed to be handling the situation much better than his father.

Nathalie sighed. Gabriel had always been a difficult man to work for. Recently, his focus had been off of everything work related which meant Nathalie's own work had almost doubled to make up for it. It wasn't that she begrudged him for missing his wife, she just wished he found some time in his grieving for at least his son, if not his business.

Wherever it was Gabriel had left, Nathalie hoped he would come back in a better state of mind. It would make being stuck in this hotel with nothing to do aside from regularly checking on the state of the company worthwhile.

Nathalie was about to flag the barman for a refill when someone sat down on the free stool next to her. Before she could turn around and request being left alone, the newcomer started speaking quickly in an accented English.

"Could you please pretend to know me so I don't have to deal with assholes hitting on me?"

Nathalie turned around and her first thought was 'stunning'. There was no other way to describe the woman who had approached her. There was something vaguely familiar about her, too, but Nathalie didn't feel like figuring it out at the moment.

"Sure," she replied at last. The woman smiled in relief and quickly rattled off a drink order. She held it out so Nathalie could clink her own glass against it.

"I'm Penny."

"Nathalie."

Penny slouched down a little bit in her seat as she sipped at her drink. She radiated the same tiredness Nathalie felt and it was that feeling that prompted Nathalie to ask.

"A long day?"

"Try a long month. I love my job, I do, it's just-"

"Exhausting," Nathalie finished for her. Penny nodded.

"Exactly," she said. She paused, looking at Nathalie. "You seem to have had a long month yourself. I'm not prying," she added hastily. "It's just, if you want to gripe, I'm a good listener."

"Thanks," Nathalie said. It was tempting. It was very tempting. She had been pouring all of her frustrations and hang-ups into her work but an opportunity to vent was too good to pass up. So against her better judgment... "My boss is an emotionally repressed jerk who lost his wife and left me to deal with everything from his company to his son and then he decided to take a super secret trip without anyone knowing so I'm stuck here, covering for him and trying to hold everything together and sometimes I really feel like I'm not getting paid enough for this but then I feel guilty because I know people can't help how they react to grief and it's all just very vexing and I wish he would go back to the demanding asshole he used to be before. At least I knew how to handle that."

Penny blinked. Nathalie flushed. Okay, she must have been more pissed off about this than she had thought. Just as she was about to apologize for dumping all of that on her new acquaintance, though, Penny snorted.

"Wow. And I thought dealing with the pet crocodile was bad."

It was Nathalie's turn to blink.

"A pet crocodile? Is that some kind of joke?"

"I wish," Penny said. "No, my charge has a pet crocodile and he insists on bringing him everywhere with him. We even had some trouble at the airport because someone mistook Fang for an alligator. You wouldn't think crocodiles can pout and sulk but they certainly can."

"Alright, you win the weirdness factor."

"And you win the stress factor."

They smiled at each other and something seemed to pass between them. Penny reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a business card.

"Are you from France?"

"I live in Paris, when I'm not abroad for business."

"I'll be coming to stay in Paris in a few months. Give me a call when you're in country? We could complain about our stressful jobs again."

Nathalie accepted the card with a nod, reading the full name and it finally clicked why Penny looked familiar.

"I'll do that."

~~~

When the news of Jagged Stone coming to Paris spread, Nathalie pulled out the card from where she was carrying it in her wallet and dialed the number on it.

"Penny? It's Nathalie. I'd like to complain about my job again. There's a great bar in the 3rd arrondissement..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be delayed. I'll most likely post two chapters on Thursday. For now, it seems the pairings will be Nathalie/Mrs. Agreste (in the verse where Nathalie is Volpina) for Day 3 and Nathalie/Miss Bustier (canon-ish setting) for Day 4. There will also be some Nathalie/OC pairings later. I'm yet undecided on Day 7 pairing so let me know who you want it to be.
> 
> Also, feel free to find me on [Tumblr](http://mirime-kisarrastine.tumblr.com).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3 prompt: Alternate Love Square

**VolPaon**

There was something freeing about wearing a mask. It gave a person courage to do things they would otherwise wouldn't do. For example, it gave a person courage to confess their feelings in a very vague, roundabout way.

(The Fox was an embodiment of craftiness, trickery and deceit, after all. Expecting her to be honest would be a bit too much.)

"I'm thinking of giving up on the person I love."

The words rang out into the night like a gunshot. Volpina was looking away from Le Paon to improve her chances of hiding her true feelings.

(The Peacock stood for honesty, truth and insight. If anyone could see through Volpina's half-truths and lies, it would be her.)

"I didn't know you were in love."

The accusation in those words was unspoken but blatant. _We are best friends, why didn't you tell me?_

"It took me some time to come to terms with it."

A blue-clad hand suddenly clasped the black-clad one.

"And you decided to give up?"

Volpina made sure her face was entirely blank when she finally faced her friend. It was time for the unfortunate truth.

"I'm too much of a pragmatist to hang on to an unrequited love."

Le Paon's face fell and she squeezed Volpina's hand in sympathy.

"I'm sorry."

Volpina nodded in acknowledgment and managed a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, I'll eventually get over it."

_I'll get over you_ was something she would never say to the woman holding her hand. Sympathy she would take but pity? Pity, she would hate.

**Adèlina**

When things went wrong and Le Paon had to withdraw from the battle, Volpina didn't think about it too much. It had happened before, it would happen again. She could hold her own in the meantime.

What Volpina didn't expect was for Adèle to be found by the enemy before she could transform back. What Volpina didn't expect was for the enemy to try and use Adèle as a bargaining chip. But, Volpina thought with a smug satisfaction, the enemy certainly didn't expect the come-uppance they had received for that.

Adèle safely cradled in her arms, Volpina quickly made her way two streets over while the enemy was trapped by some of the most effective and terrifying illusions she had ever produced. She set Adèle down and was about to return to finish them off when Adèle grabbed her arm.

"Wait!"

"What is it? Were you hurt?"

Adèle blushed.

"No, I'm fine, I just wanted, I- I wanted..." she trailed off before a look of determination appeared on her face and she tugged Volpina closer to her and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "This," she finished. "I wanted to do this."

She called out for Duusu to transform her while Volpina was still in shock from what had just happened.

**Paolie**

Nathalie wasn't surprised to find Le Paon at her window. She merely stepped back to let her in. They hadn't talked after the battle had ended, what with Le Paon almost running away immediately afterwards. while Nathalie thought about going after her, she decided to take some time to reflect on what had happened.

She had been sure her feelings were unrequited. Adèle had never given her any hint that she was interested in her in that way. Now that that assumption had been destroyed, Nathalie had to decide where they would go from here.

"I owe you an explanation," Le Paon started. "And it's going to be easier if I keep my mask on. It makes me feel brave."

"I know, it's the same for me."

Le Paon smiled at her and took a deep breath.

"I think I have been in love with you for a while but I thought it was just friendship. You know how my parents are and although we covered things in school, I wasn't sure. I didn't want to accidentally ruin our friendship if I was wrong or if you didn't feel the same. But when you said that thing about giving up on someone you love, the first thing on my mind was that I had a chance with you now. I don't know who that person who doesn't love you back is. I don't want to know. What I want to know is if I have a chance with you or if I don't, if this is going to ruin our dynamics."

She stopped there, her green eyes shining from behind the mask. Nathalie took a deep breath. Well, that certainly made things simple.

"Before I answer, could you detransform? You don't need the mask anymore."

**Nathèle**

The bluish flash of light left Adèle standing in the middle of Nathalie's room, looking scared and hopeful both. Nathalie smiled at her reassuringly and took her hand, vaguely aware of Duusu flying off to find Trixx.

"I wore the mask when I told you about the person I love," Nathalie started. "The mask helps me to be a better, well, liar, really. It was because I was afraid I would give away too much. My confession was supposed to be about closure for me. But as it turned out, it's going to be about a beginning."

"You mean..."

Nathalie nodded.

"The person I love is you. I thought for sure you wouldn't feel the same so I decided to get over you, somehow, but I didn't want to leave things unsaid either."

"We were both really stupid, huh?" Adèle said with a laugh. "So what now?"

Nathalie smiled and used their joined hands to tug her closer.

"Now we make out, I guess."

"You guess?"

"I guess."

They both giggled before leaning in at the same time. With Adèle's lips pressing into hers, Nathalie reflected that while masks had their uses, sometimes it was much better to do away with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No unhappy endings for wlw in this work. Nope, this collection is a strictly happy endings zone.
> 
> Also, I once again fell for the trap of an increasing word count in subsequent one-shots. I'll post Day 4 tomorrow and the rest of the fics next week (after I spend the weekend writing).


End file.
